Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Newbury grades B+ overall, ranked 126th of 282 in Massachusetts. It has 49 miles of trail and 46% conserved land. The median household earns $175K and residents are healthier than 92% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The catch is cost: homes are expensive, about $936K for a typical one and 8.1 times the Boston metro’s $116K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 96% of U.S. towns, with 7 places on the National Register. 46% of the land in Newbury is conserved, against 19% in Massachusetts’ towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. The biggest place to walk is Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, 2,222 acres with 1.2 miles of trail.
Where Newbury beats most towns.
Spencer-Pierce-Little House is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 3,972 in 1790, a low of 1,303 in 1920, 6,716 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1704 and 6 maps from 1932 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Newbury takes its name from Newbury in Berkshire, England, 3,200 miles across the Atlantic.
UKUK editionNewbury, settled in 1635, takes its name from Newbury, a large town in Berkshire, England.
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Massachusetts), ordered by how far Newbury is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Newbury. Close and well known come first.
Big draw32 mi Stadium & arenaFenway Park
Big draw32 mi MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum
33 mi LakeWalden Pond
30 mi AttractionFreedom Trail
32 mi MuseumMuseum of Fine Arts Boston477K visitors a year
29 mi MuseumBunker Hill MonumentFenway Park: Gatorfan252525, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Sean Dungan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Walden Pond: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Freedom Trail: Ingfbruno, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Museum of Fine Arts Boston: Martin~jawiki at Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bunker Hill Monument: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Newbury, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Newbury.
Newbury keeps more of its land conserved than most of Massachusetts, but it reports more crime than Newburyport and its other graded neighbors and has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Massachusetts.
Its 7,696 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 99% of Massachusetts towns.
49 miles of trail in 54 parks and preserves. Newbury’s trail density is 1.9 miles per square mile, where Massachusetts’ towns sit at 1.8 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Old Town Hill Reservation | 6.3 mi | 545 |
| 2. Martin H. Burns Wildlife Management Area | 5.6 mi | 1,552 |
| 3. William Forward Wildlife Management Area | 4.5 mi | 1,294 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Triton school district. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Triton Regional High School, with 538 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newbury ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 424 | B |
| Triton Regional High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 538 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Within Massachusetts it is healthier than 67% of the 279 graded towns: Massachusetts sets a high bar. Its widest gap with Massachusetts is no health insurance: 2.6% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 5.2% statewide.
28% of Newbury adults feel lonely. Newbury beats the Massachusetts average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 84% of Newbury adults had a checkup this year.
| Newbury | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 33% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 84% | 82% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.5% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Newbury | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 2.6% | 5.2% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.9% | 11.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.6% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 8.1 years of the Boston metro’s $116K median household income, the typical home (about $936K) costs more against local pay than in 81% of Massachusetts towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living.
86% of households own their home in Newbury. The typical Newbury home is worth about $936,000, up 2.9% in a year, 43% above the Massachusetts typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Most working residents leave Newbury for work: only 10% work in town. Since 2013, Newbury has added 261 jobs, to 1,611 in 2023. Newbury’s average trip to work is 24 minutes.
| Newbury | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $175,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.4% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Newbury is safe by national standards, yet each of the 4 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Newburyport (A−) to Groveland (A+). At 10.3 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 56% of Massachusetts’s graded towns.
The property crime rate in Newbury is 3.9 per 1,000 residents.
| Newbury | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.9 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2 per 1,000 residents | 1.4 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Newbury has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 18° and about 62 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
199 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 19 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 52% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 199 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Newbury.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
6 within 15 miles of the center of Newbury
About 5 of every 100 Newbury residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
Coastal flooding makes up 28% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
7 places in Newbury on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Newbury.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Newbury is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,716 at the 2020 census. Newbury includes the villages of Old Town (Newbury Center), Plum Island and Byfield. Each village is a precinct with its own voting district, various town offices, and business center.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Newbury.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newbury | #126 | B+ | C− | B+ | B− | A |
| Rowley | #140 | B+ | C− | — | B− | A+ |
| West Newbury | #68 | A | C | A | B+ | A+ |
| Newburyport | #63 | A | C− | A− | B+ | A+ |
| Georgetown | #76 | A | D | A | B | A+ |
| Groveland | #85 | A− | C− | A+ | B+ | A |
Rowley reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Newbury with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Newbury grades B+ overall, better than 70% of U.S. towns and #126 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades A for health, B+ for safety and B− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
7 notable people were born here, including William Henry Moody and Theophilus Parsons.
